Mail magazine



Jul 12, 1932. J. Q. FlNFROCK 7 MAIL MAGAZINE Filed Aug. 28, 1930 5 Shets-Sheet 2 l g v vvvvvv' A TTORNEY July 12, 1932' J. FINFROCK 1,866,847

' MAIL MAGAZINE Filed Aug. 28,1930 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 IIIIIIIIIIIII E IIIIIIII INVENTOR ME? BY. 1 /W v V ATTORNEY Patented July i2, 1932 JOHN G. FINFROCK, OF SOUTH PASADENA, CALIFORNIA man. Mao'azmn Application filed August 28, 1980. Serial No. 478,487.

My inventionrelate's to feedingmagazines and particularly to such devices as are adapted. for the handling of envelopes and other mail matter.

During the last few years machines for addressing, sealing, and stamping envelopes or other containers of mail matter have come into general use by corporations and other institutions sending out mail matter in large quantities. I

The usual practice is to collect the mail matter from the several departments in which it originates and carry it to a mail room where it is put through the machines necessary to complete its preparation for mailing. The mail matter is generally collected in loose stacks and much time is lost in re-arranging stacks of mail which have fallen over or been spilled on the floor.

It is an object of my invention to provide a magazine for handling mail matter and particularly envelopes, which will expedite the collection of such matter and the feeding of it to machines preparing it for mailing.

It is frequently necessary after letters are placed in envelopes to addv to the letter or insert enclosures therewith. Where letters are piled in loose stacks on a stenographers desllir this is a time consuming and confusing tas It is correspondingly an object of my invention to provide a magazine for handling mail matter which will permit orderly examination of'themail matter prior to or after its collection from the department of its origin.

It is also an object of my invention to provide, in a magazmefor handling mail matter, means for gripping the mail matter during transportation but which may be readily released to permit feeding such matter into a machine. I At present, mail matter and particularly envelopes, when fed to a mail processing machine, must be arranged by hand in a neat stack with the lower envelopes shifted successively in the direction they are to be fed. This process is known as feathering and if it is not properly done, the feeding may be interrupted or more than one envelope may be fed'to the machine at once with the result that some of the envelopes will pass through the machine without bemg processed.

It is a still further object of my invention to provide in a magazine for handling mail matter, means for releasing the mail matter for feeding it into a machine in such a manner that the pieces of mail matter are automatically feathered thus dispensing with the necessity of hand feathering and assuring that each piece of mail matter will be processed by the machine.

In most of the aforesaid machines the receiving means are adjustable in width to conform to mail matter of different sizes. It is easy in most cases to set the receiving means a little too tightly so that the mail matter will not feed properly.

Another object of my invention is to provide a magazine for handling mail matter which may be associated with an adjustable receiving means and which will automatically limit the adjustment of such receiving means so as not to interfere with the feeding of said mail matter.

Yet another object of my invention is to provide a magazine which is strong and light in construction and inexpensive to build.

The manner in which the foregoing objccts are attained as well as further objects and advantages will be made manifest in the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a preferred embodi- I ment of my invention as used in connection with an envelope feeding mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of Fig. 1 taken in the direction of arrow 2.

Fig. 3 is a side elevational'view of Fig. 1 taken in the direction of arrow 3 with parts of the structure broken away to illustrate the operation of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view'taken in the direction of the arrow 5 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a sectional View taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5. m

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View taken on the line 77 of Fig. 6.

' Fig. 8 is a plan view of the mail magazine tray of my invention, in its normal position for receiving mail and with a stack of mail packed therein.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary erspective view illustrating the mail support and actuating mechanism of my invention.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary enlarged sectionalfor processing mail matter.

The magazine 15 includes a tray shell 18 having a bottom 19, side walls 20 and 21, and end walls 22 and 23. Provided on the out- -er surface of the bottom 19 are rubber-buttons 24 to prevent the tray shell 18 from scratching a desk when resting bottom-down thereon. Provided in the bottom 19 is a longitudinal opening 26. Outstruck from the bottom 19 along side this opening 26 are gripper tracks 27 on which guide feet 27a of a gripper 28 are adapted to slide. The gripper 28 includes a body 30 carrying the feet 27a from two of which friction springs 34 extend, so as to bear against lower faces .of the tracks 27 and hold the gripper 28 in any position in which it is placed. Extending inwardly from the gripper body 30 is a gripper plate 35 which is shaped as shown in Fi 1. For convenience in hancfiing the mail magaiine 15 the end wall 22 is shaped as shown in ig. 1.

Portions of they bottom 19, the side wall 20,

and the end wall 23, are cut away to provide a discharge opening 38 in one corner of the tray shell 18.

Disposed in the tray bottom, adjacent the end 23, is a supporting member 40 which is preferably rectangular in shape, having a main body portion 41 and an end. portion 42 which is bent at an angle relative'to the portion 41 as shown in Fig. 8. Provided on the portion 42 of the support 40 are tabs 43 which extend through suitable apertures formed in the tray wall 21 so as to hingedly mount the support 40 on the wall 21 provided on the under face of the portion 41 is a guidefin r 44.

Journa ed in astrap bearing 45 and an aperture aligned therewith in the wall 21, adjacent the end wall 23, is a crank shaft 48 having a crank 49, which extends between the finger 44 and the support 40, and an outbent stop 50 .disposed practically at right angles to the crank 49. Bent upwardly from the outer end of the crank shaft 48 is'a crank lever 52.

The machine 16 for processing mail matter, in conjunction with which the mechanism 15 is adapted to be used, may be any kind of a machine for performing any operation on the mail. The cooperation of the azine 15 is entirely with a feeding mechamsm 60 provided in the machine 16. i The feeding mechanism 60 illustrated herein is that emloyed in the current production model of the hitlock mailing machine produced by Whitlock Metered Mail Company, Ltd., 1215 E. 14th St., Los Angeles, California. As the construction of this mechanism is well known in the art it is only diagrammatically illustrated and briefly described herein. This mechanism is supported on a main frame 62 of the machine 16 and includes a feed hopper 63, a feed conveyor 64 and a stripper magazine 65.

The feed hopper 63 includes a bottom plate 67, an inner side plate 68 and an end plate 69 of which are formed integrally and permanently mounted on the frame 62.

Adjacent portions of the walls 67, 68 and 69 are cut away to provide a discharge apertime 70. Provided on the bottom plate 67 is an outer side wall support 72 which includes a bracket 73 rigidly fixed to the under sur face of the bottom plate 67 and a sliding arm 75 which is slidably in a suitable opening provided in the bracket 73. The outer end of the sliding arm 75 is bent upwardly to form a standard 78 upon'which is rigidly fixed a side wall 79. In order to lock the sliding arm 7 5 in any desired position a locking bar 80 is provided, which is co-extensive in shape with the arm 5 and which also slides therewith through the, bracket 7 3. Outstruck from the locking bar 80 are lugs 81 which extend into cam depressions 82 in the slide bar 75. Mounted between the standard 78 and an upbent end 85 of the locking bar 80 is a manually operable mechanism 86 which 1S operated by-a spring 87 to normally urge the locking bar 80 in a direction to separate 1t from the slide 75 to lock the latter to the bracket 73, thus positioning the adjustable side wall 79 relative to the opposite fixed side wall 78 of the hopper 63. The mechanism 86 can, in an obvious manner, be gripped between the thumb and two adjacent fingers and compressed so as to release the slide bar 75 and permit the side wall 7 9 to be readily adjusted.

Removably mounted on headed pins 88 extending outwardly from the side wall 68 1s a vertical guide bar 89 for a purpose which will be described later.

than one envelope or piece of mail matter being fed 'at a time from the hopper 63 by the conveyor 64. Included in the stripper 65 is a pair of feet 97 which are yieldably mounted on wall 69 so as to assist the stripper wheel 93 in holding back the envelopes from being fed more than one at a time by the conveyor The operation of my invention is as follows:

It is common practice for each machine 16 to have a hopper, such as the hopper 63, which is rigidly fixed to the frame of the machine. It is customary to deliver the mail to the machine in loose stacks stacked on the table around the machine and placed in the hopper 63 a few pieces at a time. Considerable time is lost by the spilling of these stacks and in placing the mail into the hopper 63 in the proper manner so that it will be engaged and fed out of the hopper by the conveyor 64 without further attention. As previously mentioned it is one of the purposes of my invention to overcome this difficulty.

In accomplishing this, a number of the mailing magazines 15 are furnished to the various departments from which mail matter 18 originates. As the mail is prepared for sending to the mail room it is placed in one of the magazines 15 bet-ween the support 40 positioned as shown in Fig. 8, and the gripper plate 35. This plate may be adjusted.

loosely to give room for looking through the letters or other mail matter in the magazine if this is desired. When the time comes for collecting mail matter from various points of origin, putting this through the machine 16, and forwarding it to the post oifice, the gripper plate 35 is forced against a'stack 100 of envelopes 105 or other matter in the magazine so that it is held in place against any possibility of loss while the magazine is en route to the mail room.

Upon arrival of these magazines in the mail room it is not necessary to re-handle the mail, each magazine being in turn laced in position in the hopper 63, as clear y shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, with the wall 20 thereof resting against the end wall 69 of the hopper and with the slidable wall 7 9 pressed against the lower rubber buttons 24.- so as to urge edges of the magazine side walls 20 and 21 against the side wall 68 of the hopper 63. As clearly shown in Fig. 4 the walls 20 and 21 are slightly greater in width than the envelopes 105 which the magazine is constructed to carry. It is. of course understood that it will be preferable to provide different sizes of magazines 15 and particularly one size of magazine for each of the two most commonly used sizes of envelopes, generally known as letter size and legal size. Owing to the relation of the Width of the side walls 20 and 21 to the width of envelopes 105, which the magazine is constructed to can the operator may shove the adjustable si e wall 79 hard against the magazine 15 without compressing the stack 100 of envelopes 105 laterally in a manner to prevent these being fed from the magazine.

The feeding device 60 being in operation as above, described, the handle 52 is manual-.

7 1y thrown over into the position in which it is shown in 'ig. 11 so as to cause the support 40 to dIl p downwardly as shown in Fig. 3. The pressure with which the stack 100 of envelopes was formerly held in the magazine 15 is thereupon immediately released and the envelopes drop downward by gravity into the properly feathered position for feeding, as shown in Fig. 3. The

inclined position of the support 40, when thus released, as well as the sharper inclination of the portion 42 thereof than that of the portion 41, assists in the feathering of the stack of envelopes into the feeding mechanism 60. Any tendency which the envelopes mi ht have to fall from the magazine 15 while these are being fed into the machine 16, is prevented by the guide bar 89 which is disposed close to the open face of the tray From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have-provided a simple, inexpensive device which will greatly expedite the collecting and rocessing of mail matter prior to its being orwarded to the post ofiice. Among the many advantages which may now be specifically pointed out are the ease of inspecting mail matter in the magazine 15 when the latter rests bottom down on a table; the

security of mail matter against accidental re-- moval from the magazine during transfer of the latter to the mail room; the impossibility of binding the mail matter laterally when placing the magazine in a mail processing machine; the simplicity and fool proof character of the mail matter releasing means; and finally, the automatic feeding and feathering of the mail matter by the magazine 15 when the releasing means is actuated.

While I have, for purposes of illustration, shown and described -but a single embodiment of my invention, it is understood that many modifications of this mightbe made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

'1. In a magazine for mail matter the combination of: a tray in which said mail matter may be placed in stacked format-ion; means adjustable to said stack for pressureably retaining the stack in said tray; and means for releasing said stack from said pressure for feeding the same from said tray.

2. In a magazine for mail matter the combination of: an open receptacle for mail matter, said receptacle having a discharge aperture therein;-means for supporting one end of a stack of mail matter adjacent said aperture; and movable means for pressing said stack against said support.

3. In a magazine for mail matter the combination of: an open receptacle for mail matter, said receptacle having a discharge aperture therein; means for supporting one end of a stack of mail matter adjacent said aperture; means for pressing said stack against said support; and means for releasing said supporting means to relieve said stack of said pressure. I

4. In a magazine for mail matter adapted to be used separate from a machine having a mail feeding mechanism, the combination of: a receptacle having a mail supporting wall and a mail guide wall the guide wall having a greater length than said mail matter an said supporting wall being shorter than said mail matter to permit the lowermost piece of mail matter to be engaged by said feeding mechanism and fed into said machine.

5. In a magazine for mail matter adapted -to be used separate from a machine having a mail feeding mechanism, the combination of: a receptacle having a mail supporting wall and a mail guide wall the guide wall having a greater length than said mail matter and said supporting wall being shorter than said mail matter to permit the lowermostv piece of mail matter to be engaged by said'feeding mechanism and fed into said machine; and means for feathering said pieces of mail matter resting upon said supporting wall.

6. In combination: a feeding mechanism for handling mail matter including a floor having a feed opening therein, feed means extending into said opening, and a front 'stop member; and a separate mail matter magazine having a back wall and a side wallwith greater len h than the length of one piece of said mai matter said side wall having means for engaging said front stop member to preventfore and aft pinching .of said mail matter said magazine also having a bottom wallshorter than said side wall to permit said mail matter to be drawn from said magazine, through said feed, opening said feed mea 7. In a mailmagazine tray, the combination of: a bottom plate; side walls and end walls provided thereon; and desk finish protecting means provided upon the underside of said plate, there being an opening in a corner of said tray through which mail collected insaid tray is adapted to be fed piece by piece when said tray is set up on'end with said opening disposed downwardly.

8. In an apparatus for handling mail, the combination of: a stationary mail feeding device a support for loose letters thereabove; .and a magazine tray in which letters are adapted to be collected and fed therefrom while said tray rests upon said support, there being an opening in the corner of said tray through which said letters are contacted by from while said tray rests upon said support between said side guides, there being an opening in the cornerof said tray through which said letters are contacted by said feed means said tray reventing said side guides from pinching said letters.

10. In a mail magazine tray, the combination of: an open tray shell, there being a letter discharge opening therein; a letter support adjacent said opening; means for optionally positioning said support towards or away from said opening; and means for holding letters in said tray against said support.

11. A combination as in claim 10 in which said support positioning means is operable from outside said shell.

12. In a mail magazine tray, the combination of: an open'tray shell, there being a letter discharge opening therein; a letter support pivotally mounted on a wall op osite said opening; means for swinging sai support to depress the free end thereof to a point adjacent said opening or elevate it a substantial distance above said opening; and means for pressing a stack of letters against said support when in elevated position.

13. In a mail magazine tray, the comb1nation of: an open tray shell, there being a letter discharge opening therein; a letter sup-- port pivotally mounted on a wall opposite said opening; means for swinging said support to depress the free end thereof to a point adjacent said opening or elevate it a substantial distance above said opening; means for operating said swinging means from outside said shell; and means for pressing a stack of letters against said support when in elevated position.

14.. A combination as in claim 12 in which said swinging means comprises a crank pivotally mounted on said shell.

15. A combination as in claim 13 in which said swinging means comprises a crank pivv otally mounted on said shell and in which said operating means therefore comprises a handle provided on the shaft of said crank said shaft extending through and j ournaling in a wall of said shell.

16. A combination as in claim 12 in'which said support is inclined downward toward said opening when the free end thereofis depressed. 1

17. A' combination as in claim 12 in which said support. is inclined downward toward said openingwhen the free end thereof is de- V my hand, at

mew?

pressed a rtion of said support adjacent the ivot t ereof bein inclined at a steeper pitc than the remain er of said sudpiplort.

18. In an apparatus for han g en- 6 velo s one by one and in different sizes, the

com nation of: envelope feeding mechanism; a hopper to feed loose envelopes thereto an adiustable side wall thereon to guide sald enve opes when placed in said hopper loloose; and a ma azine for carrying a stack of envelopes an adapted to be placed in said hopper and position said envelopes to be received by said feeding mechanism said magazine being so dimensioned that when it v is compressed in said hopper b said .side' wall there will be ample room or said envelopes to be fed by gravity to said feeding mechanism. Injtestimonghereof, I have hereunto set s Angeles, California, this 22d day of Aug., 1930. I

. JOHN Q. FINFROCK. 

